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Marshmallow working on car cover for expats and immigrants

After picking up $1.2m in seed funding, the UK insurtech startup says it is targeting those who are poorly served by the car insurance market

New UK-based insurtech startup, Marshmallow is working on a product after receiving $1.2m in seed funding.

The product is aimed at immigrants or expats “who are poorly served by the car insurance market”.

“Car insurance typically requires an insurer to understand a person’s driving ability, driving history and current lifestyle before they can offer them an accurate price,” explains Marshmallow co-founder Oliver Kent-Braham to TechCrunch.

“Unfortunately, a lot of insurers don’t attempt to understand foreign drivers living in the U.K., instead they just overcharge them. UK-based, foreign drivers can expect to be quoted prices that are 51% higher than the market average”.

To fix that, Marshmallow has built an underwriting system that aggregates global data rather than U.K.-only data.

Kent-Braham outlined how the product’s software takes out prejudices in the underwriting process.

He said: “We combine this with a proprietary algorithm that eliminates underwriting bias before computing a more accurate price for foreign drivers living in the U.K.”

He said Marshmallows customers are those who have lived in the UK for a while and are looking to settle down.

“Our customers are ambitious, entrepreneurial, educated people who are striving to build a better life in the U.K.

”Unfortunately, with the current political climate, these individuals don’t always feel welcome in the U.K. and we don’t want financial services to further discourage them to settle here,” Kent-Braham continued.